Sweet Harmony Revisited
by LoveArtificial
Summary: This is the untold story about two witches that transfer into Hogwarts from Salem Witch Academy. Follow the adventure that takes place in the Marauders 6th year at Hogwarts and the years that follow.
1. Prologue

So, this is actually a story that my friend and I tried to write years ago. I'm now writing it by myself and trying to get further then we did. So bear with me. This is about to witches from Salem Massachusetts transferring to Hogwarts. I've tried to make the characters as realistic as possible, and it is told from multiple points of view as the story moves on. Try and read at least two chapters before dismissing this.

I'm trying to make it most like each character thinking as I tell it, so the first girl, Melody is pretty long winded and thorough in her thought process. Enjoy.

Disclaimer : I own nothing but the two transfer girls and plot.

Prologue

"This year's gonna suck."

Not even looking up from her book, the dark haired girl across the compartment sighed for what seemed like the hundredth time today. She did not bother to try and explain once again why she and her best friend sitting across from her, were on a train, leaving behind all they knew for a year in a school halfway around the world.

"You know it's for the best," she answered with as little emotion as she possibly could.

"But Mel...", the petite blond whined, "I don't wanna be the new girl! I always get made fun of for behind so short!" She proceeded to cross her arms over her chest and sulk like a toddler whose been refused a piece of candy.

"At least you don't get made fun of for being scrawny." Melody cringed as she remembered how she had been poked fun at all of her life by kids for being so thin. Really it was almost unhealthy, especially considering her height. She was 5'8" for petes sake! Yet she had several friends who could almost wrap their hands completely around her waist.

"Yeah. That's true I guess." The blond paused at this and almost seemed lost in thought. This was a good sign...when Riley slipped into space it almost surely meant that she would daydream for hours. Melody slipped back into her book. But today just had to be the day that Riley would not keep quiet.

"Well, I'll do it for fun, but I refuse to learn anything Melody, know that now!"

"I know Riley, you never do. I have given up on you," Melody spoke over the ruckus of the train with a slight grin on her face. While she obviously wouldn't be able to read anymore today, maybe if she could just get her friend in a better mood they could at least play some Exploding Snap.

"Suit yourself Twiggy, I'm a hopeless case and you know it," Riley said slyly, clearly hoping to promote an argument. She had taken to affectionately calling Melody "Twiggy" last year. This had quickly turned into a nickname that everyone had called her back in Salem Massachusetts, and ended the teasing streak. Hopefully it would work at their new school. In turn, Melody had taken to calling Riley "Twitchy" because she could never be still for more then half an hour at a time.

When 'Twiggy' only nodded in reply Riley said "You're just as hopeless as I am but you refuse to admit it."

"Whatever floats your boat Twitchy," Melody answered calmly, as if she had said it everyday for all sixteen years of her life, "Whatever floats your boat."

"Come on Twiggy entertain me, I'm bored out of my mind," Riley whined.

At this Melody grinned manically and pulled out the Exploding Snap deck.

2 Hours Later

"So where is this 'Leaky Cauldron' again," A slightly singed, and quite exasperated Riley asked a few hours later. "You have no idea where we're going do you Twigs?"

"I know perfectly well where we're going. You're the one who forgot," replied Melody haughtily. She had to laugh at her long time friends condition. "You're just angry that I beat you at Exploding Snap...again."

Riley stuck her tongue out and obviously chose to ignore the comment. "Come on Mel you know I have a short attention span, I wasn't really listening when you read the letter, I was..." she stuttered as she racked her brain for an excuse, "Writing a poem to you!"

"Okay lets hear it then," challenged Melody.

"Okay, I was lying...I just wasn't very interested."

"Oh are you ever?"

"Sometimes." Melody rose an eyebrow and Riley shrugged sheepishly "...no not really."

"At least you're telling the truth. It's a wonder that you manage the grades that you do." Melody grinned. "Oh! There it is!" She pointed at the door of a very rickety and old pub as she started to make her way over to it.

"I hope it's cleaner on the outside then it is inside." She heard Riley mutter.

As Melody pushed open the door it gave a loud creak and she sighed. Defiantly not cleaner on the inside.

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	2. Chapter 1 Diagon Alley

Lets try from Sirius' POV now. I'm trying to make it most like each character thinking as I tell it, So Sirius is pretty light hearted and one minded almost. Enjoy.

Disclaimer : I own nothing but the two transfer girls and plot.

**Part 1 (Marauders)**

In room six of the Leaky Cauldron, there were three young pranksters lounging in various states of boredom about the room.

"Hurry up Remus," drawled a very bored James Potter as he tossed his new potions book aside. "You're taking forever!"

"I can't find the checklist! And today is the last day to shop for our school supplies!" Remus Lupin cried as he threw his arms up in the air in exasperation.

Sirius couldn't help but laugh. Remus was just as must a joker and pulled as many pranks as did his three best friends. They served so much detention that it was a wonder at all that Remus got the grades that he did. He was one of the top students in Hogwarts actually. Second only to Lily Evans.

"I've got my list you know...you only had to ask" This was from the ever prepared Peter Pettigrew. Peter was one of the most soft spoken people that Sirius had ever met. Loyal bloke though, and had some of the best prank ideas he had ever heard of. The great bathroom disaster of '76 had been Peters idea. Ah, that was a great prank.

"Can we go then?" James asked, standing up quickly and heading to the door not even waiting for a reply.

"Oi, mate! Calm down. This is a day for celebration." Sirius grinned while patting his best friend on the back.

"Ha, this is true. So Quidditch store first then?" Remus laughed and suggested James' favorite shop in the hopes to cheer him up.

James grinned. "You're right...Bella the Bitch is finally gone. Maybe only for a year, but the blight on our lives has been removed." He was of course referring to my wretched cousin Bellatrix Black. Horrible girl. But she had left for Salem Witch Academy in America for the next whole school year.

"She will be coming back you know," Peter spoke bringing down from cloud nine.

"Peter," whined Sirius, "Why do you have to go and ruin the mood?"

"Because you know it's true. Don't get too accustomed to it."

As Sirius started to pout James spoke up, "Come on Wormtail, let him have his fun."

"Thanks Prongs!" I grinned and started to dance.

"Did you hear anything about the transfer students that are switching with Bella and Alice?" Remus asked while laughing at my antics.

"Well, since two girls left Hogwarts this year, we're gonna be getting two girls in return. So let us cross our fingers that they are total babes!" James grinned like a wolf.

"Hmm...I wonder what Lily would say if she heard that," teased Remus.

"I would only look...you know I'm crazy about her." He smiled softly.

"Wouldn't stop us," Peter taunted..

"You wouldn't dare," threatened a suddenly terrified James. "I would never get a chance with her!"

"Try us," I smirked

On that note James tackled me to the ground and we went a round right outside of Gringotts. Remus and Peter were egging us on for a good three minutes of wrestling before I managed to get James into a headlock.

"Mercy!" James choked out and I let him go laughing.

I stood up and offered my hand to my best friend with a grin and asked "You ever gonna learn mate? You're never gonna beat me"

"One day Padfoot...One day." he grinned at me.

All of a sudden, someone screeched "LOOK OUT" from up the stairs of Gringotts. Before we could even turn to look in the direction of the scream, something slammed into my left side and James and I went down in a heap.

"Oww." James groaned.

"Damn," Said a female voice from atop me, "These rails are better than the ones in Salem. Sorry about that guys."

"RILEY VICTORIA COLLINS! WHAT DID YOU DO?" This rather feminine roar came from the top of the stairs and I heard someone racing down the steps towards us. "I'm so sorry for her behaviour. Riley Get Up." The last three words were hissed rather than spoken.

"Yes please." My voice sounded muffled.

It took a good two minutes to untangle ourselves from each other. All the while I was underneath both James and the girl who had slammed into us, and her friend was apologizing profusely.

"It's okay," Laughed James. "It's not that often that we meet people _after_ they cause us physical harm." he joked.

The girl, Riley, I think her name was, laughed at this while the girl that had been yelling chastised her, blushed profusely, and apologized for her friend once more.

"Oh let it go Twiggy. They obviously don't care." The blond girl grinned. She was quite small and it was a wonder at all that she had managed to take both myself and James down.

"Not that I haven't been a victim of stair rail sliding before, but I have never been hit by anyone else." I grinned. She smiled back at me and I couldn't help but stare. She was quite lovely. She had a round face, pretty light brown eyes and a spatter of freckles over her noes. God knows I had always liked blonds too. She looked to be a few years younger then myself though, judging by her size. "I'm Sirius. Sirius Black. And I don't think I've ever seen you two around before."

"We're transfer students from Salem Witch Academy actually. It's our first time in London." This came from the dark haired girl standing near Remus and Peter who had been apologizing for the last five minutes. This girl was a deal taller then the blond but could quite possibly be one of the thinnest girls I had ever seen in my life.

"Cool!" Peter exclaimed. "We were actually just talking about who the new transfers might be. We knew both of the girls that left."

"Oh, very cool. Well, I'm Riley Collins, as all of Diagon Alley knows know thanks to her." She jerked her thumb at the other girl. "And this is Melody O'Brien"

Melody waved at everyone, and it was then that I noticed Remus. Staring at her. Grinning foolishly. Oh boy.

"And you fine gentlemen are," Melody asked, looking around expectantly.

"My name is Remus Lupin," responded the Moony quickly. A bit too quickly, but the girl just grinned and blushed. Looked like she would be hanging around a lot more in the next year. Good. More time to get to know this Riley girl.

"I'm James Potter." James was grinning at the two blushing fools. Obviously he wasn't the only one who had noticed.

"And I'm Peter Pettigrew." Man even Peter was grinning. Could they be more obvious?

"Would you ladies like to get an ice cream with us? It's a day of celebration. And what better way to welcome you two to England?" James offered, winking at me.

"We would love to, but Merlin knows we have so many school supplies to get. We didn't even _have_ Care of Magical Creatures in Salem." Melody sighed. "Perhaps we'll see you guys on the train?"

Remus, Riley, and James all said, at the same time "Awwww"

"Do we have to?" Riley whined in an almost childish manner. It was actually quite adorable.

"Well seeing as we only have _today_ to shop, yes we do. Nice meeting you boys. See you tomorrow hopefully." After another stolen glance and blush at Remus, Melody dragged Riley away by the hand towards Madam Malikins.

Once they were out of earshot James nearly yelled. "Could you two have _been_ more obvious?"

"What?" Remus and I both asked at the same time. I mean, it was obvious what he meant about Moony, but what had I done?

"You too could not stop drooling. You know Prongs, I think we are gonna be seeing quite a bit more of those two girls." Peter grinned. Oh boy. If even Peter had noticed, apparently I had been staring _alot_ more than I had realized. I hope I'm not blushing as brightly as Moony is right now.

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	3. Chapter 2 The Hogwarts Express

So this is from the other transfer students POV. I'm trying to make it most like each character thinking as I tell it. So Riley is very sarcastic and blunt. Enjoy.

Disclaimer : I own nothing but the two transfer girls and plot.

**Part Two (The Train) **

"Damn it all to hell. Where are those bloody boys when you need them?" I was really starting to get angry and it didn't help when Melody told me to watch my language. The uniforms that she had insisted we put on before we got here sure didn't help my mood. They hadn't had a skirt small enough for my size and so Madame Malkin had to make some for me. And wouldn't you know it, they were all really short. A little past mid-thigh. Mel insisted that she would make them longer when we got to school, but what bothered me the most was the shirt and tie. Just a black tie since we hadn't been sorted yet, but I wasn't a bloody playboy school girl. At least I could take comfort in the fact that Melody's shirts and skirts were too big as well, and that we had to pin the skirt in place.

"What I don't understand, "Melody pondered, "Is where this 9 and ¾ platform is supposed to be. I only see platform 9 and platform 10."

"You know Twiggy, it might be 'Magical'" I flared my fingers dramatically as I said the last word dripping with sarcasm.

"Ha Ha." She replied, as sarcastically as I had. Gotta admire the girl for not getting pissy with me. She knew I was only in a bad mood. "Maybe we should ask someone for help. They look like Wizards." She had raced up to a blond couple and their son who looked to be about our age before I could say anything.

"Excuse me, is there anyway you can help us to find the platform? We're transfer students and I'm afraid that we are completely lost." The parents stood up straighter and started to sneer while the boy glared.

"Are you _mudbloods_?" He uttered the incredibly offensive term as though it were nothing. This had been a bad idea. Note to self: Yell at Melody later.

"Not even close buddy. Rather offended that you would ask though. Pure blooded,_ thank you very much_" I replied hastily and as offensively as I possibly could. This was a dangerous time to be half muggle, and poor Melody was just that. Luckily Melody shut her mouth and just nodded with a raised eyebrow. Thank goodness she knows when to shut up and follow my lead.

"My humblest apologies. I deeply regret having to ask such a question, but with England the way it is now, I had to know." He then bowed to us. _Bowed_! Talk about odd. Roll with it though Riley. Roll with it. "My name is Lucius Malfoy."

"Fine, you are forgiven. I'm Riley and this is Melody. Now show us to the platform." Hopefully demanding was the way to go with this guy. Apparently it was, because he grinned at me and offered us each an arm.

Melody took it. Rather creepy, but I guess it was for the best. However, I couldn't bring myself to do it. I just stared at the offered limb like it was offensive.

He got the hint and walked off. Not before saying, "Goodbye Parents" Talk about how _not_ to raise a child. He then strolled off towards a brick barrier and, as if it was the most natural thing in the world, walked right through it. Now I am rather clumsy and often walk into walls myself, but really? What if a muggle fell through that? Not the best plan.

Right then I heard a yell from behind me. "Riley! Hey, Wait up!" I casually shoved my trolley through the barrier and turned around to see one of the boys from yesterday running up to me.

"Hey, Peter, right?" I grinned up at him.

"You remembered. Cool." He smiled and turned and yelled over his shoulder, "Hey guys! I found her!"

Within a minute I saw the other three run into view with similar trolleys to mine. I grinned at them, stuck out my tongue and made the mistake of leaning back onto the barrier. Dumb idea. I managed to make an awful sounding 'yelp', crack my head off the ground and make an utter fool of myself in front of a million strangers and one of the cutest boys I had ever met, _all_ at the same time. This was already starting to shape into an awful day.

"Need a hand Twitch?" I looked up at the sound of a very relieved best friend. Obviously she didn't like the creepy guy either.

I yawned and stretched leisurely. "Nope. I think I'll just lie here for a minute." I grinned wickedly at her as she glared at me. Man she was vicious.

"Amusing though it would be to watch, if you stay in the barrier, you are bound to get run over by the next person that comes through." the blond boy drawled. What kind of a name is Lucius anyway?

I begrudgingly sighed and pushed myself up. I was about to step out of the way however, when I was hit, rather painfully by a trolley and ended up flat on my back once again in only two minutes. Yup, gonna be a bad day.

Melody had the nerve to laugh at me, _laugh_ at me while I lay there in pain. "That actually really hurt you know." I moaned as I once again pulled myself up and turned to see who hit me.

"I'm so sorry Riley! I didn't mean to. I thought you had moved by now!" Poor James. Not his fault really.

"No worries." I groaned while rubbing the small of my back. "Its what I get for smashing into you yesterday."

"Potter. You may leave now." growled an icy voice from behind me.

'Malfoy. Do yourself a favour and get out of my sight right now." James glared, his stare icier then Lucius' tone had been.

Just then, another trolley smacked into James from behind as Sirius shoved his was through the barrier. You think this would have changed the situation, but no. Sirius stopped dead and glared at Lucius.

"Lucius. Wanna go now? That would be great. Hi girls!" His mood changed like lightning when he saw us, and then started to completely ignore the blond.

"Hey. You should move before a third person gets hit by someone coming through the barrier." I laughed. It had been rather funny. Too late though, as Remus shoved through.

"Oops...sorry Padfoot Why didn't you move?" By now Melody, Lucius and myself were all doubled over laughing. But Remus had the good sense to move out of the way and end our joke. It _had_ been pretty good though. Poor Peter had no idea why we all were laughing when he came through the portal.

Still laughing, Lucius turned to us and asked, rather politely, "Shall we go ladies? I can help you get your things onto the train if you like."

I was dumbfounded by the change of character, and almost agreed before Sirius stepped in front of me and snarled, "They're with us Malfoy, thank you for the offer though."

"Don't be rude! He can help if he wants." I chimed in, despite myself. No reason not to accept his help. Bad idea though. All four of the boys eyes bulged out of their heads and their jaws dropped. "It's not like I just accepted his marriage proposal guys. Calm down. " I rolled my eyes and went to grab my cart.

Sirius grabbed my arm as I walked by and pulled me close to him. Damn he smelt good. Like chocolate and wood shavings. "Don't. Tell. Me. You're. _One of them." _He then shoved me away roughly and stalked off muttering "You-Know-Who is recruiting younger and younger these days/" My jaw dropped. What the hell? How dare he!

"You don't even know her asshole!!" My shock increased when Melody screamed after Sirius as he stormed off. First off, Melody never yells. Secondly, Melody _**never**_ swears.

"Don't talk to my best friend like that! You have no right to when she's allied with _them_." James threatened menacingly. "To think we thought you two weren't half bad." And he stalked off as well. This left us with the two rational people and Lucius Malfoy. However, I still couldn't say a damn thing and Melody was now furious.

"If you agree with them, then you should go too." She sneered at Peter and Remus, who, thankfully, said nothing as they turned after their friends.

One of them? He thought I was a Death Eater. A Bloody Death Eater! I was the most Un-Death-Eater-Like person I had ever met. Ever! How Rude! And to think I _ever_ thought he was cute.

My musings were interrupted as Melody came up to me and gently pushed my still hanging mouth shut. My lower jaw met upper with a click as she said, "Who needs them?"

Lucius had the grace not to say anything as we walked to the train. In stony silence he lifted all three of our trunks into the storage area and offered his hand as we stepped up to the train. It was actually quite polite and I'll admit I had completely forgotten what he had said earlier. Only then did anyone speak.

"Would you girls like to sit with me and some of my companions for the ride?" Yes, he was quite gracious. At least we had met _someone_ nice. That's what I get for sliding down stair railings into strangers. Not gonna happen ever again. I 'll see to that. And if it does, I'll bolt.

Melody had apparently agreed, for they walked away down the train and I was left to follow. We stepped into a near compartment and were greeted by quite a few stares. Lucius introduced us to everyone and even announced that we were, in fact, pure blooded. Thats when I remembered his earlier comment.

We rode with the group for a few hours, Melody answering all kinds of questions about Salem, and America in general. Except for the nagging 'pure blood' comment in the back of my head, it would have been quite an enjoyable time. There was one boy in particular, Severus; he was one of the sweetest kids I had ever met, and we actually talked for most of the time.

"He's not that bad you know." Severus quietly pointed out to me after noticing that I was glaring at Lucius who was leering at Melody again.

"Then tell him to put his eyeballs back in their sockets." I whispered playfully as he laughed softly. Now would be a good time I think. "Hey, I got a question, and don't answer too loudly okay?"

"Sure, whats up?' he smiled.

"Well...everyone was kind of eying us oddly until Lucius told them we were pure blooded. Only then were we alright to talk to. And when I said that it was okay for Lucius to help us out at the station, Sirius and James, I don't know if you know them, but they thought we were ...well..." He looked at me expectantly as I paused. "Death Eaters." I finished in a whisper.

Severus started laughing. Just laughing at me. Thankfully it was quietly and so no one really noticed. Melody was deep in conversation with some guy named Rudolfus. Weird name actually.

When he finally stopped laughing, he answered. "You know that there's a dark wizard terrorizing England right now right?"

I nodded. "The school administration almost didn't let us take the transfer here, but I guess we blew up one too many things and they just had to let us go." I grinned. What a great last day.

He smiled at that, "Well, he pretty much wants to kill everyone who isn't straight up muggle or pure blooded wizard. Though he doesn't much care for muggles either. Point is, I hate to say it, but most of the Slytherin crowd was raised by pure bloods. Most of the people in this room are actually Death Eaters, or will be inducted on their 16th birthday."

My jaw dropped, but he continued. "Now, not all of us will be. I myself want nothing to do with it and plan to get into teaching. But I can't help what house I was put in right? And I am proud to be a Slytherin, don't get me wrong. But not for the reasons that everyone else here is. This all, of course, makes everyone who isn't into dark magic overly cautious of anyone who might even possibly be associated with the dark arts. Does that clear everything up a bit?"

"Oh." Now I understood. And I couldn't say I blamed Sirius and James for coming to their conclusion, but boy was it premature. "Yeah, I guess...kinda sucks though."

"You don't strike me as the Slytherin type unfortunately. Any ideas on what house you would get sorted into?"

"Well, Melody the book worm has been reading Hogwarts : A History, and seems to think that she will be in Ravenclaw and that I'm destined for Gryffindor. Sucks that we might get split up, but what can we do?" Severus blanched visibly at this and sighed.

"Oh...I see." he didn't seem to happy to hear that.

"Whats wrong, different houses can't be friends?"

"Not Gryffindors and Slytherins. There's a huge rivalry there." I was pretty confused. "A vicious rivalry" he clarified.

"Oh...well...can you still talk to me if I get put there? Because I think it would suck royally if you didn't and I doubt I can choose my house."

"You would talk to me even if you _do_ get put in Gryffindor?" He exclaimed with a surprised grin.

"Gryffindor? You think you'll be in Gryffindor?"

"I thought you said she was pure blooded!"

"So is Black but he's still a blood traitor!"

"Doesn't mean anything Boys and Girls! She hasn't been sorted yet." Lucius explained calmly as a hush settled over the students. Like a dog obeying their master. "Obviously, you don't know anything about the houses love. You see, _only_ pure blooded witches and wizards get placed into Slytherin. Black is the _only_ known exception to this rule, so clearly you shall both be in Slytherin." He smiled a chastising smile at me.

"Melody won't then." I corrected him. Dumb, dumb, dumb idea Riley. Everyone understood at once and suddenly wands were drawn.

Yells of shock and fury erupted in the compartment as I realized my mistake. "I think you two need to leave now" Severus whispered apologetically starting to shove me out of the room.

"Promise me you'll still talk to me, no matter what" I whispered back as he pushed Melody out and reached for me. "Promise!" I insisted while gripping onto the door frame with all my might.

"Okay, I Promise" he laughed as Lucius made a growl and screamed,

"GET OUT TRAITOR!"

Melody and I booked it, as several jets of coloured light zoomed over our head.. We finally came to a stop when we could no longer hear the screams or jinxs.

"Well that sucked," I exclaimed, leaning against a compartment door.

"I wasn't too comfortable pretending I was pure-blooded anyway." She shrugged and laughed. "Guess we know what people to avoid, huh?"

"So many enemies in just one day...well...Riley made a friend!" I grinned hugely as I thought about Severus' promise.

"And I bet you two will be the first Gryffindor-Slytherin Friendship" She smiled at me.

"Don't say that. We haven't even been sorted yet! You have no idea where I'll go."

"Well...either way, talk about too many enemies at once." She sighed, leaning against the wall behind her. "And we haven't even gotten to school yet."

"Well...I'm in a yelling mood. Shall I go sort out James and Sirius for us? No need to not unleash my bottled frustrations on the jerks who had the audacity to think I was a Death Eater." I grinned wickedly and proceeded to start searching through compartments for the unsuspecting boys as Melody laughed just as wickedly. She knew I had a fierce temper.

If you can review that would be swell!


	4. Chapter 3 Revenge

I'm trying to make it most like each character thinking as I tell it, so now we get to see things through James' eyes. He is in love with Lily Evans, and very narrow and to the point. He's actually quite a bit like Riley, which gets funnier later on. I promise. ;) Enjoy.

Disclaimer : I own nothing but the two transfer girls and plot.

**Part Three (Revenge)**

"Man. This sucks!!" Sirius whined from across the car, yet again, as he slammed his head back against the seat. It was a really annoying habit that he had when he got frustrated.

"Padfoot, shut up about it already! You're pissing me off!" He had talked about nothing but the girls for the whole ride here. Not even bringing up Quidditch could get him away from the topic for more then a minute or two.

Remus had kept pointing out that we hadn't given them a fair shot. They deserved a chance to defend themselves.

To which I pointed out that they didn't at the time.

Well we never gave them a fair chance to.

Yeah, we had had the argument so many times already that I could recite it in my head. I had never seen Sirius so worked up about something though. Sure, she was hot, but he barely knew the broad. He would find another chick to drool over. No questions asked. Remus hadn't taken it too hard though, he insisted that he would talk to them later, and Peter said the same before slipping off into his journal that he kept. He never was without the thing actually.

"But James, you don't..."

Remus stood up and interrupted Sirius before the conversation repeated itself again. "It's time to change into our robes."

The guys changed in silence, all of them deep in thought. Peter was done first; the guy was amazingly quick at damn near everything he did. It fit with his animagus form on that sense, and in the sense that Peter liked to be left alone, and get away quickly whenever he could, but James had never liked or understood its negative implications.

The dog fit Sirius perfectly. Big, loyal, loving, rather shaggy, and quite frankly he would probably play fetch if it was for the right treat. Even the negative aspects were spot on. Sirius was a dog. He loved women. And he _loved_ chasing after them. The stag fit himself perfectly as well. Wild, athletic, easily excitable and proud. Even the negative aspects fit perfectly. He would admit that he liked to be part of the herd, and was also easily anger-able. But how Peter was a _rat_, just did not make any sense at all.

My musings were interrupted as the door to the compartment was slammed open with a bang. I jumped and turned to see a petite blond leaning against the door frame, arms crossed with an evil sneer on her face. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Remus dart behind Sirius and wrench his rob on to cover the obvious effects of his last cycle as a werewolf. It always left a huge physical impression on his body for days afterwards. I stepped closer to Sirius to create a better shield as quickly as possible/

"Riley!" I yelped as I hurriedly tried to close my unbuttoned shirt. "Get out!!"

"No." she stated clearly. "I don't listen to people who jump to unfathomable, offensive conclusions about strangers."

My jaw dropped as Sirius opened his mouth to reply. "What do you..."

"Shut you mouth!" The small girl stated with such command that Sirius was just left gapping as well.

"Now, I don't take kindly to rudeness. And I sure don't take kindly to unfounded accusations on any normal day." She calmly stated as she pushed herself off the door frame and started slowly walking towards us. It was actually quite menacing. "But accusing someone of being a Death Eater in this day and age is just plain stupid."

She was pretty close at this point and Remus, now fully covered, had the sense to get out of the way as we backed up. Obviously Sirius and I were the only victims of her tirade, for both Remus and Peter got to watch from the sidelines.

"You know, today was supposed to be a good day." She grinned, overly innocently. Almost like we were the children and she was explaining something quite simple. "But wouldn't you know it, I get shoved over _twice_, called a Death Eater by the _only_ people I know _at all_, and chased out of a compartment with jinxes and hexes by furious _real_ Death Eaters for cavorting with a non-pure blooded witch"

"Well the first time you fell was your fault," I dumbly stated, not even cluing into the rest of what she had said. The entire compartment was silent and I heard Sirius suck in a breath of air between his teeth. Dumb move James. I closed my eyes and mentally slapped myself. She stopped and sighed with another slow chastising grin, before shoving me and Sirius forcefully back into our seats and looming over us.

"Just because you're an idiot who only takes things at face value, doesn't mean you have to be a rude jackass too." She was quite angry now, getting right in our faces and snarling at us. She was scarier than my mother. I heard Melody laugh at this, obviously this was a regular thing for Riley.

"Now, to set the record straight, neither I, nor my lovely friend, are Death Eaters. Nor do we practice in dark magic at all. But if you two weren't so narrow minded and inconsiderate, you might have actually given us the chance to _explain_ that to you instead of running off like little girls to enjoy a meaningless victory." She leaned back away from us at this point and smiled.

"You two," she continued in a much calmer voice, "are quite possibly the rudest people I have ever met." Then she got almost chipper and excited. "I hope you rot in hell." She smiled the biggest most sincere smile I have ever seen in my life, and promptly turned on her heels and walked away.

"Wait, Riley!" Sirius stood up to grabbed her wrist. "Let us explain."

SLAP

The sound echoed in the room as Sirius stumbled. Impressive. The girl barely topped five feet and yet somehow managed to over balance Sirius; one of the tallest people I had ever met. All with a slap...good thing it hadn't been myself to go after them. Even though Sirius had only beat him by a second.

"You don't _get_ to give me an explanation. We never got to give you one." She was merely grinning at him. "Now, I believe I told you to rot in hell. Oh, and put a shirt on you hairy lug. It's _not_ attractive." With that, she was gone. Melody smiled at us, gave a little wave, and skipped off after the girl.

Before the door could shut behind them, he heard Melody say "That was one of your best yet girl!" with a laugh.

The compartment was left in total silence. Sirius just stood there holding his cheek and staring at the door in shock. Remus and Peter were actually grinning, though they were shocked grins. I slowly stood up and finished buttoning up my shirt as Remus and Peter started to talk about what had just happened. I didn't hear much of it though as I thought about what she had said.

She was right. And Remus was right, I begrudgingly admitted. I had no right to get as angry as I did. And really, I could imagine if someone had called me a Death Eater. I would have the same reaction myself. I slowly slid my tie on and did it up as I resolved to apologize to the new girls. No matter what house the ended up in. Only when the train started to rumble to a stop seconds later did I remember what Riley had said about being chased and jinxed by the Slytherins. We could start with that.

Gathering up my wand and school robes I smacked Sirius on the back of the head. "I know you're shocked mate, but lets start fixing it." He grinned, immediately knowing what I meant and pulled his shirt on. Buttoning it on the wrong buttons and putting his tie on with an actual knot instead of a tie knot, he grabbed his wand and robes and we raced out of the compartment leaving a grinning Peter and Remus behind.

I hopped off the train before it came to a complete stop and went to stand by the entrance to the horseless carriages. If we waited, then there was no way we could miss them. So Sirius and I stood, stock still, and waited. And Waited. And Waited. The train was taking forever to stop, and I was getting bored quite quickly.

"You know," Sirius said quietly, just as I was about to scream in frustrated boredom, "I just might have screwed everything up with this girl." I nodded." But damn if that wasn't one of the hottest thing I have ever witnessed in my life!" He grinned wildly and I couldn't help but laugh. Trust Sirius to still be thinking about the girl.

Finally people started to pour out of the train and make their way over to us. I watched through the crowd for any of the slimy Slytherins. Over the sound of the students making their way up to the school, first years screaming, and Hagrid yelling "Firs' Years, Transfer Students This Way" over it all, I was defiantly wondering if I was gonna go deaf before the night was over. I kept scanning the crowd though as Sirius did the same beside me. Bloody blokes attention was grabbed when he saw Riley though and he watched her walk over to Hagrid. I grinned as I noticed Riley gesturing vividly about the size distance between herself and Hagrid before I turned back to looking for the Slytherins.

Finally I spotted a disgustingly blond head of hair moving towards us and he nudged Sirius in the side. We ducked and edged back into the foliage behind us and grinned at each other, already knowing what we were going to do. As the group shoved past waiting students and got into the first carriage Sirius pointed his wand at Malfoy and whispered _'distraho_'. Immediately his hair stood on end and his skin started to turn a sickly colour of pink.

When everyone was staring at him, I jumped out and yelled _'vulgus excipio'. _He and the rest of the students watching laughed wildly as the Slytherins were lifted up into the air and suspended by their ankles.

I grinned at the now pink faced Malfoy as Sirius yelled, "Serves you right, you useless wankers!"

"Don't ever hex our friends again." James added with a cheerful grin before Sirius and I stepped into the carriage and began our ride up to the castle, leaving the Slytherins hanging from nothing behind us.

**(In the castle)**

"Funny though it was, I doubt it will do much good mate," Remus told us after laughing. "I doubt they were watching. And they might even think it was childish."

"It was worth a shot though right?" Peter grinned. "They are gonna get you back something fierce now though."

Sirius just smiled, "She was watching. I guarantee it." He stretched lazily as he waggled his eyebrows.

"Whatever, once they get sorted, first thing we do is apologize to them. And I don't care if they get put in Slytherin. We need to Apologize." It was the only thing I could think of. I felt like a jerk for saying what I did. And I knew that Sirius did too. Even Remus and Peter felt bad for just walking away, though the girls obviously weren't mad at them.

"I actually wonder if that Melody chick is even angry," Sirius mused. I was just amused that he could think of anyone but the blond spitfire we had met only a day ago.

"Oh I bet she is, but she just decided to allow Riley to express it...you heard her yelling back at the station." Remus mused. God, this must be what I looked like when I thought of Lily. Ah Lily. My eyes scanned the table for her. I could not wait to see her again. She probably looked more gorgeous then ever this year. Damn...I guess I was as bad as them.

"Ugh! I'm hungry!!" Sirius growled, and seconds later the great hall doors opened as the First years, Melody and Riley were ushered in. Alright...almost time to fix things.

The sorting hat was placed on a stool in front of the school and sang some song about accepting people no matter their house. Something about Unity. All that hogwash. Same as always, but Remus actually paid attention this year, nodding and clapping along when it was done. I looked over at the girls knowing they would be sorted last and had to stifle a laugh at the looks on their faces.

Sirius, Peter and Remus all looked over and gave about the same reaction that I had. Melody's jaw was hanging open in blatant disgust and she was unconsciously smoothing her hair. Riley was shaking her head with her hands thrown up as if to say 'that thing is not going to touch my head.'

The ceremony began as the first student was called up to the hat.

'Jake Adams.' Poor kid was shaking. Barely a moment after the hat was placed on his head the hat opened the brim in its side and yelled out,

"HUFFLEPUFF"

The Hufflepuff table stood up and cheered as the boy raced to sit down. And so it went for the next half hour. Student after student. All different houses. It was the same thing every year. Finally the last First year was called.

"William Weasley"

The hat was placed on the head of a boy with shockingly red hair. James grinned as the hat yelled out,

"GRYFFINDOR"

"Fantastic! Eight new first years! Bloody brilliant mate!" Sirius chortled in pleasure while standing up with the rest of the table to cheer the new arrival.

"And now the good part." I grinned in excitement.

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	5. Chapter 4 The SOrting Ceremony

I'm trying to make it most like each character thinking as I tell it, so I'm going to jump to Riley for her sorting, and then to my other exchange student Melody for the rest of the chapter. Enjoy

Disclaimer : I own nothing but the two transfer girls and plot.

**Part Four (Sorting)**

"Riley Collins" Bloody Brilliant. Now I get to put on a ratty, dirty, old hat to be sorted. What a sucky day! The only good part had been when some genius lifted the Slytherin bastards who hexed us up by their ankles. Seeing the girls skirts fly up had been priceless. Note to self: Find out who did it and marry them.

I slowly made my way up the stage to the kindly lady who had told us about the sorting ceremony. I couldn't remember her name..Professor McSomething. As I passed her I grinned and whispered, "You could have told us how icky the hat was."

With as small grin she put the hat on my head and I shuddered with disgust.

**'Think I'm gross do you?' **

"Ahh! It talks" I jumped up and flung the hat away from me in surprise. The whole school erupted into laughter. I looked at the table that I had seen James, Remus, Sirius and Peter at and I saw them doubled over laughing at me. Jerks. But hey, I'll admit. I over reacted. When Melody can't hold herself up because she's laughing too hard, then I know I was really funny.

Professor Nice Lady picked up the hat and said "It's only been shouting all night long dear" with a small smile.

"Well I didn't think I would talk _to_ me." I sighed as the school quieted down to hear our exchange. "It's probably gonna yell at me now."

"Probably dear." The Professor grinned as the giggles continued and she put the hat back on my head.

**'Not bright enough for Ravenclaw then'**

"Well that's just rude!" I exclaimed, as the hall broke out in laughter again "Just cause I didn't think you would talk to me doesn't mean a damn thing!"

**'You know that you can just think it and I'll hear you?'**

"Oh. Really?" I grinned sheepishly before turning to Professor Nice Lady grinning, "Apparently I can just think it...Who knew." I shrugged as the hall erupted into laughter yet again.

_'You're gonna make me the laughing stock of the whole school you know' _I thought with mirth.

**'Yes Apparently, but let us see. You have had a bad day haven't you.'**

_'You think?' _I replied sarcastically.

**'Well, you do have quite the temper dear. And a self-righteous air about you'**

'_I just don't like being called a Death Eater. Mel's Dad was one.'_

"SHIT!" I yelled, before clamping my hands over my mouth, even though I thought it. "I didn't mean to say that!" This came out pretty muffled

_'Please don't tell her I said that! Please!!' _I begged, oblivious to the fact that once again everyone was laughing at me.

**'It was a thought dear. It doesn't mean you betrayed her.'**

"_She'll hate me if she knows I told anyone! Even on accident!' _My hands were still clamped over my mouth and I was near crying now.

**'I won't tell...the question is can you forgive yourself.'**

_'I doubt it. What kind of friend am I that I told her biggest secret that easily?'_

**'Don't be so harsh on yourself love. It was a stray thought, and who is an old hat gonna tell anyway?'**

_'Thats true I guess...the old part at least'_ I laughed as the hat 'Hurumph-ed' at me. Out loud none the less. Cue the laughter.

**'It's clear to me that you value loyalty and friendship above anything else. This would make you wonderful for Hufflepuff. Yet how you value a laugh, even one at your own expense and after the way you stood up for yourself and best friend today, it is quite clear to me that you belong in '**

"GRYFFINDOR"

"Thanks Hat," I grinned as I took it off and looked as the table that the boys were at stood up and cheered. Most of them were still laughing, but it was all good. I looked over to where Severus was sitting and my expression softened._ Please don't back out, please don't back out_. I grinned as he smiled and nodded at me, before I walked to my new table and sat down with the first years. Melody's turn!!

**(Melody POV)**

God I did love that girl. Ridiculously hilarious, and today had really shown every reason why she and I had been friends for so long. She supported me, defended me, and amused the hell out of me. I now knew more then anything that this year was going to be terrible if I was in any house _but_ Gryffindor. But I would _not_ ask for it.

'Melody O'Brien'

Here goes nothing. I walked up to the stool and as I passed by Professor McGonagall and she smiled as I said, for the whole Great Hall to hear, "I'm not gonna be as entertaining. Sorry."

'THANKS MEL!" Twitchy yelled from her new house table. I stuck my tongue out at her as the school started laughing again and the hat fall over my eyes.

**'Oh my you are quite the intelligent one aren't you.'**

_'I guess.'_ I thought, not shocked at all by his voice as my zany friend had been,

'**And humble. A good quality to have. Loyal as well. You two are like peas in a pod.' **

I grinned as I replied, **'**_She's been my best friend for years.'_

**'Yes, that is what the loud girl said,'** I couldn't help but laugh at this.** 'And you appear to be carrying a huge burden. You have incredible strength to have made it through something like that.'**

_'Everyone has secrets._' I thought awkwardly. He must have pried that out of Riley, for I had never even thought about it. I couldn't expect her not to hate it though, and how could I hate her for thinking about it. She kept my secret when someone _wasn't_ prying invasively around in her head.

**'Loyal, and forgiving**.' I could almost hear the hat smiling. **'I think that makes you perfect for'**

"GRYFFINDOR"

I heard Riley's scream in glee before anyone else had a chance to react. She must have been on the edge of her seat, waiting for a reply.

_'Thank you!!_' I thought before ripping the hat off and running to my new table to hug my best friend as the rest of the table stood up and cheered.

'Never before," the headmaster had stood up, and the whole hall quieted. "have both transfer students been in the same house." He winked at us, and I couldn't help but grin. 'This should make for an interesting year. As always the forbidden forest is off limits to all..."

I turned to Riley and grinned. "Hello, best school year ever."

She smiled at this and said, "Well hopefully they don't kick us out before the year really gets good."

"Kick _you_ out, you mean?" I asked innocently.

"Yeah," she smiled.

"At least you're telling the truth." I sighed

"I'm a hopeless case and you know it!" She smiled and all of a sudden the plates before us filled with food. "Sick! I guess he finished his speech...that was another thing I was supposed to pay attention to wasn't it?"

"Yeah it was, but I don't really care this time. Dig in!" We spent dinner getting to know the first years sitting around us. Riley spent all of her time talking with Bill Weasley. Nice kid, apparently he had two younger brothers who were insanely jealous of him coming to Hogwarts.

"Well siblings are hard enough to deal with anyway. I mean, I've got twin brothers and they are a huge pain in the ass." Riley was telling Bill.

"Worse then you?" I grinned at her as Bill choked on his chicken laughing, when all of a sudden two faces were at the edge of the table staring at us. My face went blank as I nudged Riley and pointed at them. Inside I was giddy. I knew they were sorry...but now Riley was gonna drag them through the ringer for it.

'What is it Mel...oh" She put down her knife and fork and crossed her hands over her knees.

But before she could say anything the two boys said "We're sorry!" in unison, and then put on the saddest puppy dog eyes I had ever seen. Shit...Riley was a sucker for puppy dog eyes, and I knew she had it bad for Sirius. She surprised me though.

"Oh you are, are you?" She said haughtily and turned away from their looks and glanced at me. I knew this wasn't gonna be as funny as I had hoped.

"We got back the Slytherins who tried to hex you." James said.

'That was you!?" I burst out in shock. Good thing I did too, cause Riley's eyes bulged and her lips twitched.

Riley's face quickly went stony again. "And you think that just a little prank will get you back in our good graces?"

They looked at each other abashedly and shrugged.

"Well it kinda does," Riley admitted sheepishly, "But only a little!" she quickly corrected and eyed them, gesturing with her thumb and forefinger to show how much.

The boys grinned, "Its a start" they said in unison.

"Wanna come sit with us?" This was from Sirius.

"Riley smiled and said, "I like my first year buddies. Maybe tomorrow." She then turned back to eating.

"Do you accept our apology though?" James look quite worried.

Riley just nodded as she now had a large amount of salad in her mouth. I grinned, nodded, and shooed them off as I took a sip of my pumpkin juice. '_This is gonna be a great year,'_ I thought as the boys walked away and I eyed Remus grinning at me from down the table._ "a great year indeed'_

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	6. Chapter 5 Batman

I'm trying to make it most like each character thinking as I tell it, so now we get properly introduced to Lily Evans who will be playing a major part in this story. She is practical yet rather unsure of herself and her feelings for James. ;)

Disclaimer : I own nothing but the two transfer girls and plot.

**Part Five – Gryffindor Tower**

Contrary to what Alyssa had said on the train, I had not been trembling all day long. I had been quite pleased to learn that I had become a prefect when I had received my letter over the summer. I had actually jumped up and down because I was so excited about it. The first thing I had done was to write a letter to Alyssa Carlton – my good friend since we started at Hogwarts together, telling her what had happened.

No, I had not been worried about the responsibilities at all since the day I first got the news. I wasn't worried when I learned that Remus Lupin was the other Gryffindor to be made prefect this year, either. He was a good choice, and would be easy to work with. I hadn't even been worried when the head boy, a fellow Gryffindor, Alex Jordan, congratulated me and told me about the prefects meeting during the train ride.

No, I had not been worried at all. It started halfway through the prefects meeting though. Right after Alex told a story about how he had been bitten by a first year on _his_ first day as a prefect. That was when the trembling started. I had a great deal of responsibility now, and I had never realized that not every student would listen to a prefect as I had done.

Thankfully Remus had noticed my shaking and pulled me aside after the meeting to assure me that everything would be alright, and that if anyone bit me he would bite back. Though this did nothing to assuage my worries, Remus had always had a knack for cheering me up.

We had always been close, Remus and I. Ever since the first day of our first year when I was knocked over in the station yard by a rude boy, whom I had later learned was James Potter. Remus had helped me up and kept me company for the train ride and we had become quite close after we were sorted into Gryffindor together. The only reason I did not spend as much time with his as I would have liked to was because of his friendship with James Potter.

While James wasn't a terrible fellow on the whole, he had been chasing after me since first year. You would think that he would get the message that I didn't want to go out with him, but nothing I did could get him to stop pestering me. But, James was a minor annoyance in comparison to what I believed I would be facing this year.

Especially the new Transfer students. I had not even thought about them previously. It never occurred to me that both of them would end up in my house; in my dormitory. This meant that I was going to be personally responsible for them, and from the looks of it, at least one of them was going to be a trouble maker.

"Miss Evans." I was drawn out of my anxious musings by Professor McGonagall tapping me on the shoulder and handing me an envelope. I already knew this was to contain the new password for the common room, and a list of all the first years names. I thanked her and watched her walk over to Remus and hand him an envelope containing the same information.

Remus turned to look at me and smiled reassuringly. I guess James saw Remus looking down the table for he turned to follow his friend gaze. Before I could turn my gaze away, James grinned at me and winked. I looked down, shaking my head in disdain. This was obviously going to be another year with him chasing me again.

"Well Ladies," I announced, turning to my companions, "I must bid you adieu! Off to my prefect duties." They waved me goodbye, telling me they would see me in the Gryffindor tower and such, all the while laughing at my dramatic exit. I saw Remus standing as well and I walked towards him.

"You ready?" He grinned at me as we started heading to the end of the table, towards the new students.

"Surprisingly...yes." I lied.

We got to the head of the table and looking down at the students, I realized how small they all were. I could do this. I became quite light hearted and addressed them easily.

"Hello. My name is Lily Evans and this is Remus Lupin." He nodded and waved, grinning particularly at the new transfer students. "We are the Gryffindor prefects, and if you would like to follow us, we can show you all to the tower now." See? This wouldn't be hard at all.

I noticed the blond transfer student looking at me oddly. What was her name again...Miley? I couldn't remember. I did remember that she had been the troublesome one, and I knew that she would particularly enjoy the new password.

"What's a 'prefect'?" She addressed Remus with a look of confusion. Ah, yes. Alex had told me how the transfer students last year hadn't known this and that we might have to explain.

"I'm a prefect." Remus grinned broadly at her. Very helpful.

"Charming." She rolled her eyes at this and turned to me. "What's a prefect?"

"Basically students who enforce the school rules. Also if you have any questions about how things are done in Hogwarts, you may come to either of us and we can help you." I explained ,carefully addressing all of the new students and not just the girl asking the question.

"Oh. Right! Lets get a move on then. I for one, would like to sleep." She stood up and I marveled at her height. She barely made it up to my shoulder, and I myself was considered under average height. When the red headed first year beside her stood up, he was actually taller then the girl by about half a foot.

We made it up to the portrait of the fat lady without much incident. Remus and I had explained a bit about Hogwarts history along the way, as well as giving the usual warnings about the moving staircases, trick steps, and the use of portraits as door guards. When it came time to tell the password, I turned to Remus.

"You can do the honours." I grinned, knowing that he would enjoy it far more than myself.

He smiled and turned to the waiting students. "The password to get into the Gryffindor tower this year will be ' Ahh. It talks!' "

"What the hell?!?" The blond girl exclaimed while everyone else broke out laughing as they remembered her display with the sorting hat. Her jaw had dropped and her eyes were bugged out slightly, but she still managed to look as though she were laughing.

The portrait had opened behind us, and we all entered the common room laughing. Several other Gryffindors were in the common room and laughed when they saw the new girls affixed grin of shock. However, by the time I had finished explaining about the dormitories and started to lead them up to the girls 6th year dorm room, she was grinning and laughing.

"So, which beds are ours?" This was the first thing I had heard the darker haired girl say all night long. I pointed them out and she and her friend flung themselves on the mattresses in almost the same manner. However, there was a 'yowl' from the blond girls bed, and she quickly jumped up.

"Oh no! I'm so sorry Batman!" She exclaimed while picking up the oddest looking cat I had ever seen. This cat had a mostly black coat with small white spots on his chest and at the tip of his tail, along with deep green eyes with rather large pupils. But none of this was what was so off-putting about the animal. The odd thing was the cats ears. Or rather, lack thereof. I gapped at the scars where the cats ears used to be as the girl fused over the creature.

"I'm so sorry my kitty." She gushed. "How was the ride here? Did you get train sick?" She cooed over him while I continued to stare.

"Don't worry. He's healed." the dark haired girl told me reassuringly when she noticed me looking.

"Oh yeah. Batman here," The blond walked over to me and held up the cat, "Is a rescue animal. He had frost bite, and they had to remove his ears. But we adopted him, and he's fine now. See?"

I leaned in to look at the animals ears and he pushed his face up to mine. He was sniffing me, and I couldn't help but smile. He _was_ rather affectionate.

"I'm Riley by the way." She shifted the cat in her arms and help out a hand to me.

"Nice to meet you." Oh yes, that was her name! "I'm Lily."

"And I'm Melody." The other girl stood up and offered her hand to me as well. Before I could shake it though, the other two Gryffindor sixth years burst into the room. Alyssa Carlton and Amber Wright had shared the last five years of their lives with Lily, and she was ever grateful to have them as such dear friends.

"So, lets me these new girls!" Amber shouted from behind Alyssa before she had even entered the room fully."

We spent the next hour unpacking our things, getting to know each other and cooing over Riley's cat.

"Why, 'Batman'?" Alyssa asked while cuddling the cat who had nuzzled up to her and was purring.

"Cause Batman is amazing." Riley smiled, "and because, even though he has no claws with which to climb, he can get on top of my dresser, climb trees, and even get on the roof. He's as crazy as Batman." She nodded as she unpacked his food supply.

At this, Batman started to meow and wriggled free of Alyssa's grip. He leaped over to Riley and started rubbing up against her hands as she poured his food.

"Does anyone know where I can get him some milk?" she asked absentmindedly.

"Umm...I think James Potter knows how to get into the kitchens." Amber offered.

"Cool, be right back!" Before I could tell her that the kitchens were closed, she was already out the door.

I turned to Melody, "She won't be able to go to the kitchens this late. The cat is gonna have to do without."

Melody shook her head at this. "I don't think you understand. _No one_, and I mean _**no one**_, will be sleeping tonight if he doesn't get some milk."

I laughed at this and headed out of the room to try and find Riley before she convinced James to get into trouble on his first night back at school. When I heard voices from the common room and the sound of James laughter, I knew I wouldn't have to look for long. I stood at the bottom of the stairs and watched the scene unfold.

"Please, please, please!!!" Riley whined, and when James merely laughed, she abruptly smacked him upside the head. "You owe me jerk!!" she exclaimed loudly as I watched in amusement.

"Ow! You can't do that! School hasn't even technically started yet! I don't wanna get detention on my first night." He rubbed the back oh his head, and I had to wonder what she meant by, 'you owe me.'

"I'll go." Laughed Sirius, standing up. Uh oh. Sirius didn't just agree to do things that might get him detention, for any normal person. God, I hope they don't date. I couldn't deal with that again. I shuddered involuntarily while thinking back to when Sirius and Amber dated for a month in third year.

I chose this moment to step out, and hopefully, put an end to things. "No, you won't Sirius. No body is going to go out after curfew." I sighed as James turned around and smiled at me.

"But Lily Flower, my darling. Didn't you hear? Her poor kitten is starving." He put on overly pathetic puppy dog eyes as he said this, and gesticulated as dramatically as he could.

"Would it kill you to call me Lily? Just once?" I sighed in frustration. "And yes, I heard. But he's just going to have to suffer." I could already see the wheels in Riley's head turning, and the slow grin forming on her lips.

"Hasn't he already suffered enough?" She suddenly cut in, throwing the back of her hand dramatically against her forehead.

"Don't you understand Lily-kins?" James exclaimed, jumping to catch Riley as she pretended to faint. "Can't you see that this is tearing us apart?" He wailed, before pretending to console Riley, who was now biting her lip, and actually had gotten the fake tears going.

I just stood there, watching what was quite possibly the most dramatic, soap-opera style, pathetic yet laughable attempt at convincing, I had ever seen. Remus, Sirius and Peter we just about as shocked as I was, but started to laugh, and were quickly doubled over with mirth. I merely took note of how alike the two hooligans were and cringed.

Before they could take their charade any further, I merely threw my hands up in defeat, and walked away shaking my head. I could already tell that this was going to be a long year.

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	7. Chapter 6 Day One

I'm trying to make it most like each character thinking as I tell it, We're back in the eccentric and erratic mind of Riley Collins.

Disclaimer : I own nothing but the two transfer girls and plot.

**Part Six – First Day**

"Time to wake up Twitch!" I groaned as I heard Melody's overly cheerful voice so early in the morning. I grumbled something even I didn't understand and snuggled further into my pillow.

"Now!" I cringed as she flung open the bed hangings and the sun shone right in my eyes.

"Five more minutes." I mumbled into my pillow.

"Nope. Oh and no body is too happy about the damn cat last night." She smiled at me before heading back to her own bed and starting to put on her make up.

She was far too chipper for so early in the morning. This was one thing I had always strongly disliked about my friend. No matter what time of night she went to sleep at, she would always wake up the next morning at exactly 7:30, and be perfectly refreshed. But seeing as Batman had kept waking us up all night long, I didn't see how that was possible. Meanwhile, I could sleep twelve hours straight and _still_ wake up tired. I decided that ignoring her would be the best option. However, this wasn't the easiest thing to do, as ever minute, she would yell at me or throw something in my general direction to get me up.

"Riley! You promised your mother that you would do well this year! Now get up. Breakfast starts in ten minutes."

"I _am_ gonna do well this year!" I muttered while dragging myself out of bed. Obviously, I wasn't gonna get back to sleep this morning. "Where is everyone?" None of the other Gryffindor girls were in the room with us, and by now Melody was sitting, completely ready, on her bed waiting for me.

"They went to breakfast. Now please get dressed." She rolled her eyes and I stuck my tongue out at her as I noticed that she had already pulled out my uniform for the day. I changed quickly and absentmindedly ran a comb through my hair. Grabbing a hair tie, my favorite necklace and my book bag, I was ready to leave the room only five minutes after I had finally dragged myself out of bed.

I walked in a half dead state as Melody talked about how excited she was the entire way down to the great hall. We entered the massive room and I slid into an open seat beside James before putting my head down on the table in exhaustion.

"She okay?" I heard someone whisper over my head to Melody.

"She's good. Riley get up." She smacked me on the back of the head before continuing, "She's like this every morning." I couldn't really get angry at her though. I'll admit it, I _was_ like this every morning of my life, and we both realized that this was more of a routine than anything else.

I lifted my head up and pulled my hair back into a pony tail before reaching for a bagel. I didn't really pay much attention to the conversation through breakfast, but I did start to observe some of the people I knew I would be spending the next school year with.

Though it had been blatantly obvious last night, it was clear even now that James had a huge crush on Lily. He was hopelessly smitten with her and could barely keep his eyes off of her. She appeared to be either entirely too used to this or overly oblivious, for she barely looked at him all meal.

I let my eyes moved over to Peter and Alyssa who had been quite close all morning. It looked as though they were dating and Amber was busy flirting with Sirius. Now that was odd. Hadn't Lily told me after I had come back upstairs last night that they had gone out once? Well it was clear that he did not reciprocate the feelings, for he spent most of the meal talking to James about Quidditch and trying to get me to join the discussion. Melody had struck up a conversation with Remus and they seemed to be having quite the jolly old time. I could definitely see the constant blushes and shy smiles, just as I am sure everyone else in the whole bloody hall could.

"Here you go ladies and gentlemen. Oh and Mr. Potter, Mr. Black, we are off to a good start so far, yes? Let us try and keep it that way." Professor Nice Lady had come by and handed out our schedules for the first day.

"Oh Professor, you wound me so." Sirius sighed dramatically and she merely waggled her finger at him and walked away. I opened my schedule and read it.

**Monday **

**8:00 – 9:00 - Breakfast**

**9:15 – 10:45 – Herbology**

**11:00 – 12:30 – Care of Magical Creatures**

**12:30 – 1:30 – Lunch**

**1:45 – 3:15 – Defense Against the Dark Arts**

**3:30 – 5:00 – Charms**

**5:00 – 6:00 – Dinner**

**9:00 – Curfew**

Melody snatched my schedule and started to read it. "Well we have _half_ the day together." She grinned and I glanced over her shoulder at her schedule.

She was right. We had D.A.D.A together, as well as Care of Magical Creatures, but in place Herbology, Melody had Arithmancy and instead of Charms, Divination. I had wormed my way out of that class as soon as I possibly could. While I knew that the art of divination _was_ real, and that some people truly did have the gift, I quickly learned in my first year, that it was not a trait I possessed. Melody seemed to be rather gifted in the class however, and so had elected to take it at a higher level.

I however, was far more gifted with Charms and needed the class at N.E.W.T level if I were to continue on to work as a Medi-Witch after school. That was one of the biggest reasons I had pushed to come to England actually. St. Mungos was the best wizarding hospital in the world, and my goal was to work there one day. For that, I needed to get at least and 'Exceeds Expectations' in N.E.W.T level Potions, Charms, Herbology and Transfiguration.

Melody was close to in the same boat as she was hoping to become a Ministry official some day. For this she needed and 'Exceeds Expectations' in Muggle Studies, History of Magic, and Defense Against the Dark Arts. So, beyond the basic requirements this year, we would both have a full course load. This seemed to be true for most of the sixth years, for as I looked up, the only people who did not seem to be worried or upset about their schedules were Amber and Remus.

As we passed schedules around, it became apparent that Sirius, James and Peter had all taken on the same course load, and would be joining me for all of our first day. Lily groaned as she noticed this, for she would be joining us all day as well. Remus would be taking Charms, Care of Magical Creatures, and D.A.D.A with me, but was taking Arithmancy with Melody instead of Herbology. Amber and Alyssa both had a free period at 3:30.

"Well," I grinned as I reached for an apple, suddenly much more awake, "Lets get going!" I tossed my apple up into the air as I walked off, not waiting for anyone to follow.

"See you later Riley!" I heard Melody yell behind me, and I waved over my head without looking back at her, and took a big bite of my apple. It was just then that James came up behind me and thumped me on the back and I was left choking.

"Shoot...I'm sorry Rile's!" He patted me on the back looking concerned while Sirius and Peter just laughed. I shuddered at the nickname and reminded myself to smack him if he ever called me it again.

When I finally could speak again, I turned to him and asked "There's only going to be pain between us isn't there?"

He looked confused as we exited the castle. "What do you mean?"

"Well, we met because I slammed into you off the stair rail at Gringotts. Then you knock me over with your trolley, and now you slap me and leave me choking. What did I do to deserve this?" I stated with a small smile.

"You know that's true. You're pretty violent yourself though. And we can lump Sirius in that boat too can't we?" I nodded, remembering slapping him on the train, and he grinned wildly.

"What do you mean by that?" Lily added in thoughtfully. Obviously she had been listening to our conversation.

"Well my little flower," James' nicknames were _already_ grating on my nerves and I had only been hearing them for one day. I looked at Lily and rolled my eyes as she just glared at him. "On our way here, Riley had the pleasure of slapping Sirius for his insufferable notions." Now Sirius was glaring at James as well.

I grinned as Lily's jaw dropped and she said "You go girl!"

Herbology wasn't a horrible class and conversation flitted back and forth all period. Lily and I had partnered up to tackle the Fanged Geranium that Professor Drawly had assigned us. It was a rather small class, with a mix of students from every house, and I shuddered when I saw that boy who had been chatting up Melody on the train yesterday, Rudolfus, leering at Amber. Did all the Slytherins have to be lecherous old men?

_' Well, not all of them are.' _I noted as I looked over and caught Severus' eye. I smiled at him as he waved at me. Unfortunately, this got him bitten quite badly by the plant, and I struggled to cover a small grin. All in all, it wasn't a bad class and I was only bit three times. By the end of the class, I was one of the ones better off.

"Stupid bloody flowers." Sirius muttered as sat through a boring lecture about what never to do in Care of Magical Creatures. He was wiping the blood away from a particularly deep bite mark on his forearm and I crawled over to him when the teacher had his back turned. Grabbing the arm and waving my wand over it, I muttered 'pupillus vigoratus' and watched as the bit mark started to heal and disappear. Sirius just watched in shock as I winked and crawled back to Melody and Lily.

During lunch, Sirius plopped down beside me and held out his hands. "Any way you can get the rest of them?" He asked as I grinned.

"Nah, you're fine. It builds character." I saw Melody rub her fingers over her lips to hide a smile. That was what my father had always told us whenever we got nicks and scraps growing up. I already missed my family and decided to write them a letter when I had some down time tonight.

The rest of the day went by rather quickly and without incident. That is of course if you exclude Peter almost blowing his own foot off in D.A.D.A. and the poor first year running by screaming because he was being chased by the poltergeist, who was throwing chalk at her and singing, and James chasing after Lily all day to the point where she actually threw the banana we were supposed to be making weigh ten times heavier at him, then yes, it had been a very normal day.

As we were heading back up to the common room after dinner, I was just about ready to fall into my bed and pass out from exhaustion when all of a sudden Lily exclaimed loudly, causing me to jump in shock.

"You forgot the milk!" She stared at me in shock as the girls jaws dropped, including mine. We all remembered how hard it had been to sleep last night with Batman pestering each and every one of us for hours.

"Shoot...Um." Seeing as the great hall tables had emptied after we left, there was nothing left for us to give my cat. I once again cursed my father for spoiling my pet so much over the last two years. "James, can you take me to the kitchens?"

"Sure thing. We'll catch up with you guys." As we walked away, he waved back at everyone and smiled down at me. Once we were out of earshot I poked him sharply between the ribs.

"What is it with you?" I glared at him.

"Ow! What do you mean?"

Gosh he was clueless. "With Lily! She obviously hates the way you treat her. It's no wonder she won't go out with you." I scoffed, while folding my arms.

"Hey," he protested, stopping and turning towards me. "I'm a good guy."

"Which is clearly why she hasn't killed you yet. But you do _actually_ like her don't you?" Through the course of the day I started to wonder. Did he actually like her, or was Lily just fun to mess with?

"Of course I like her!" He answered, rather affronted that I had asked. His eyes softened, "I always have."

"Then give her some respect. Call her by her name, and stop asking her out. Trust me," I grinned and started walking again as he looked shocked at this. "She'll notice you more when you stop asking her out, then when you are."

"How does that even work?" James asked in disbelief as he sped to catch up with me.

"It's called reverse psychology. My father used it on me to try and convince me not to come to Hogwarts." I grinned at the memory.

"But...you _did_ come. So once again, how is this gonna work?" He turned down another corridor as I realized that it maybe hadn't been the best example to give.

"Not the point. It's worked other times." I sighed as we came to a stop in front of a picture of a giant bowl of fruit. "Trust me. She'll be a lot happier when you treat her like a normal human being anyway."

"Hmm...but it's part of the Potter charm!" He grinned at me wildly as he reached out to the bowl of fruit and started to tickle the pear of all things.

"What in the world are you doing?" I stared at him like his ears had just turned purple.

"Getting into the kitchens." He had the audacity to roll his eyes at me. As if I knew that molesting a piece of fruit would get us into the kitchen. Sure enough however, the pear giggled manically and the portrait swung open to reveal the magnificent kitchens. I followed James as we walked past hundreds of house elves, all of whom bowed and acknowledged James as if this were nothing new to them.

"Hello Master Potter. Might we be able to assist you and the lovely lady," at this the pretty little female elf speaking addressed me and curtsied in her over sized Hogwarts uniform, "with finding anything tonight?"

"Yes please Tipsy." He smiled fondly down at the small elf, and I had to smile as she returned his smile with a grin so large that it almost consumed her face entirely. "My friend Riley has a cat that is in desperate need of a saucer of milk. Could you by chance get us some to take to the poor fellow?"

"Oh yes!" She squeaked, while another male house elf raced off to find the milk James had asked for. "The lovable little wonder in the Gryffindor tower. Such a sweet fellow. Shame about his ears though." Apparently the house elves had already met Batman, for as I looked around the kitchen, several of the gathered elves smiled fondly.

"Oh yes," I smiled as they all turned to look at me, "He was abandoned actually. We found him and he had severe frostbite and the doctors had to remove the ears." The gathered elves were shocked to hear this and several of the younger elves actually had tears in there eyes.

"But he is such a loving creature!" Tipsy exclaimed in sadness as I merely nodded. "Well, we shall gladly be able to give him milk every night if that is what you wish mam'"

"That would be wonderful," I smiled as I saw James grin at me out of the corner of my eye. "And you may call me Riley." At this, Tipsy courtesied and smiled as the male elf returned with the milk.

"Here you are mam'!" He smiled so broadly that almost all I saw was teeth, and I had to smile in return as I took the offered milk.

"Thank you very much." With this, James and I made our way to the door as the house elves offered us all sorts of treats and sweets. With gentle refusals, we climbed out of the portrait hole and I was left grinning madly "Thank you James."

"Not a problem, Rile's!" He smiled as I winced at the nick name.

"Can you not call me that?" I grimaced

"Oh, but it suits you Rile's" He grinned wickedly as I aimed a kick at him.

"But Jamesy-Poo, " I whined, with just as evil a grin. "I don't like the name!" He shuddered, but, to my surprise, laughed.

"I see how this is going to be Riley-kins." Damn. My plan backfired.

"You know what Jamesy-bear," I smiled thoughtfully, "This is going to be an interesting school year."

He merely nodded and laughed, as we made our way back up to Gryffindor Tower.

Okay, so I have no idea if people actually like this story or not, so a review would be nice. Tell me if it's worth the while to keep going, or should I work on something else?


	8. Chapter 7 Tussle in the Common Room

Okay, so lets really get this party going. This is going to be a very short chapter told from Peter's point of view. I strongly feel that Peter was a Marauder for a _reason_. And hopefully I don't get too many disgruntled readers because of this, but Peter is shy yet quick witted. However, he doesn't fully grasp the school work he does, and so people perceive him as slow.

Disclaimer : I own nothing but the two transfer girls and plot.

**Part Seven – Tussle in the Common Room**

"Whatcha up to Peter?" I was interrupted from the review reading I had received from Professor Prewett this afternoon by a bubbly voice to my left. I looked up in shock – people left me alone for the most part, and it was just odd for anyone to be talking to me.

"Oh, hi." It was that new girl we had had so many problems with – Melody. Well, in fairness, the troublesome one had really been her crazy friend, but they had defiantly started trouble yesterday on the train. And not the fun Marauder, 'try-not-to-get-caught-while-causing-yet-another-irremovable-prank-in-the-great-hall' kind of way. But in the 'shit-disturber' kind of way.

"Can I ask you a favour?" She smiled at me. Golly she was pretty. It was quite clear why Remus had taken to her so quickly. I, myself, had never been too smooth with the ladies. This had been proven time and time again whenever Prongs was making another attempt at Lily Evans, and I made myself out to be a complete dudder every time. I had actually been shocked as anyone can imagine when Lily's friend Alyssa started pursuing me last year. I had almost muddled the entire thing up before I outright admitted that I had feelings for her. Thankfully, everything worked out and we were quite happy now.

"Umm...I guess." I said apprehensively. I probably couldn't help anyway.

"Could you give me a review of the Defense stuff that we looked at today. I'm better when I work verbally, and since you're reading it anyway, I thought we could work on it together."

Wow. That shocked me. "I don't know if I'm the best person to work with for that. I barely managed to get a good enough grade to keep up with the class." I blushed as I admitted this. It was true.

"Well," she smiled at me, "All the more reason for us to work together! It'll be good for both of us." I guess she had a point. And how could I turn down the opportunity to get to know more people. I barely knew anyone besides Remus, James and Sirius anyway. They seemed to be the only people in the whole school who did not think I was completely slow. Well, them and Alyssa. God, I smiled every time I thought about her.

"Sure." I smiled as she grinned at me. Maybe this wouldn't be too bad after all. We spent the next hour going over the review package and quizzing each other. Slowly, more and more people joined in, until a almost all of the 6th year Gryffindors had joined in and were reciting the theory of each spell or counter attack.

This was all good until James and Riley joined in – after Riley had finished feeding her cat and writing a letter home – and they started using the spells on each other.

Sirius jumped in after James hit Riley with a particularly powerful giggling charm. He pretend to be the gallant knight for the girl, and started to swash buckle style duel with James yelling valiantly "Fear not milady! For I shall save thee!"

This of course got Lily to jump up and try and stop James and Sirius from trampling on the still laughing Riley, and Melody to send random jinxes flying in from the sidelines.

Unfortunately, just at that moment, one of Melody's jelly-leg jinxes caught Lily full on and she fell into Sirius and sent him cascading down onto Riley, who howled in pain as she continued to laugh. Lily started screaming angry spells at Melody and she had to dive for cover.

I crawled over to Riley, who was now blue in the face, as Remus jumped in to defend Melody from the wobbly Lily, and murmured the counter spell for her. She took a deep breath and thats when all hell broke loose.

She dived at Sirius's ankles, and tackled him to the ground. As he had been dueling with James again, he fell right onto James, who in turn stumbled into Melody, who was hiding behind Remus from Lily. All six of them went down in a huge heap and Riley started an all out muggle style wrestling match.

I rolled out of the way laughing as Remus kicked James into the back of the couch, and crawled over to my cheering girlfriend. Standing up, she pulled me into a quick kiss and we all watched the tussle ensue. As it turned out, several people partnered up on others, and the match quickly became uneven.

Melody, who had apparently done this before, was on the outskirts of the battle, yanking out peoples ankles, and kicking them violently towards the center of the match, and clawing her way out whenever someone dragged her into the thick of the fight.

Riley was right in the thick of things. She currently had her legs wrapped around Remus' legs and was trying to get Sirius into a headlock. I was actually quite amazed that she could concentrate on both boys at the same time. Especially with the way Sirius was squirming.

Lily had, surprisingly, teamed up with James and was clinging to Remus' back holding him in a firm headlock as James was trying to both subdue Remus, keep Sirius firmly pinned underneath his knees as well as catch Melody to try and even out the fight.

All in all, it was quite a spectacle, and had the entire Gryffindor house cheering and screaming. But of course the fun had to end.

"IMOBIUS" Someone yelled, and the entire pile of fighting teenagers froze in mid motion. It was Alex Jordan. A dark skinned, lanky boy, with big brown eyes and dreadlocks. He also happened to be the current Headboy.

"Everyone get to your dormitory's" I grinned apologetically at my tangled group of friends and I, along with rest of my house, made my way to my room.

The last thing I heard was Alex lecturing my friends. "You should all know better by now!"

Okay, review away!! What do you think?


	9. Chapter 8 Day Two

Okay, well that was wildly entertaining. So here we go, in Remus' point of view for the second day of classes. Remus is even tempered, responsible, yet easily talked into irresponsible action and quick witted. And before you ask, no, I will not be doing every single day of the school year. Just the first week of classes, and the story fillers.

Disclaimer : I own nothing but the two transfer girls and plot.

**Part Eight – Day Two**

"Detention." I rolled my eyes as Sirius started whining as we made our way down to the Great Hall Tuesday morning.

"I _know_!" This came from Riley, who was walking next to Sirius and threw her hands up into the air dramatically. "Already! And I didn't even blow anything up yesterday!" I, along with the rest of our group, excluding Melody, looked at her in shock.

"Blow anything up?" Asked Lily in apprehension as Melody explained with a smile.

"Riley has a fondness for explosions." God she was gorgeous. Every time she smiled, she sent butterflies racing to the pit of my stomach.

"Seriously?" Uh-oh. Sirius had a mad glint in his eyes. Clearly this was not a good sign.

"Oh yeah. Unfortunately I promised my father that I would _try_ not to blow anything up this year." She sighed softly at this and hung her head dejectedly.

Lily laughed. "You sure made a lot of promises in order to come this year didn't you?"

"Oh yeah!" Riley grinned. "You wouldn't believe what my parents came up with! _Do well this year._" She said, mimicking what I presumed to be her mothers voice.

"_Try not to blow anything up._" This was from Melody in the same voice.

"_Don't back mouth the teachers" _Riley again.

"_Don't turn anyones hair green" _Melody.

"_No Dungbombs." _Riley_._

"_No sneaking out after hours_" Melody.

"_No starting any fights" _Riley_._

"_No cursing younger students" _Melody.

"_Don't break any of your limbs._" Riley.

"_Try not to blow anything up_" Melody obviously thought that this one was important.

"_No Dancing on Tables." _Riley laughed as she said this one.

"_Try and actually eat your food, instead of throwing it at people."_ We all started laughing at that.

"Wow." James said pensively, "You sound like quite the trouble maker." At this, he grinned broadly at Sirius who was eying Riley with glee.

"Hardly!" Sirius' face dropped sullenly at that. It was quite comical to watch actually. "It's always Melody's fault and I just play the scapegoat for her tricks!" Melody had the good grace to look abashed as she grinned, and I felt my heart jump in my chest. She was a prankster? Could she be more perfect?

"Now I resent that Twitchy!" I would defiantly have to ask about those nicknames. "It's only _usually_ my fault. Not _always_." She grinned. "You come up with your fair share of dumb jokes to play on people. Speaking of which," She raced a step or two in front of the group and held her arms out to stop us. "What are you all doing tonight?"

"Nothing!" I quickly threw in, starting to walk again. "We can't do anything, because we all have to serve our detentions." I definitely did not want any more detentions this early in the school year.

"She means after that, genius." Riley grinned and rolled her eyes at me as we all headed down the stairs towards the main floor.

"We're free! Need help with anything?" Sirius jumped in quickly. Obviously he felt that the new girls being prankster was pretty great as well.

"Yeah," Riley smiled up at him. Sweet Merlin he towered over the girl. Hell, even I towered over her, but Sirius was a good two feet taller then she was. "Meet us in the common room at midnight. We'll need help finding the staff room."

"I'm in!" James smiled as Sirius and Peter nodded. "You in Remus?"

Melody looked expectantly at me and I caved. "Yeah I'm in." She smiled that radiant smile and we all continued into the Great Hall. Before I had the chance to even sit down, Professor McGonagall had come up behind us and shoved our schedules for the day into our hands. And she immediately started to lecture us for the brawl we had in the common room last night.

I was pretty sure that none of us were actually listening other then Lily and Melody who were both looking rather abashed. I at least pretended to listen as I secretly was reading my schedule for the day.

**Tuesday **

**8:00 – 9:00 - Breakfast**

**9:15 – 10:45 – Potions**

**11:00 – 12:30 – Potions**

**12:30 – 1:30 – Lunch**

**1:45 – 3:15 – Transfiguration**

**3:30 – 5:00 – Free Period**

**5:00 – 6:00 – Dinner**

**9:00 – Curfew**

I smiled down at my schedule. Today had the makings of a wonderfully easy day, and since I already knew that Thursday was to bear the same classes as today, maybe my weeks would not be as hectic as I had thought. I already knew that James, Pete, Sirius and I all had our first three classes together, but since they all had elected to take History of Magic, I assumed that I would be the only one of us to have a free period today. This was fine by me, because it meant that I would at least have two periods to study uninterrupted this year.

"Sweet!" Riley whispered to me as we all sat down once McGonagall had left. "Professor Nice Lady gave me a free period! And I have Transfiguration today!"

"Professor Nice Lady?" I had to laugh as Sirius eyed Riley in shock at the use of the nickname.

"Well, I'm not great with names. And I think it suits her." Riley nodded affirmatively as Melody just rolled her eyes and sat down next to me at the table.

"Did you not hear her just now?" James asked in consternation as he started to mimic Professor McGonagall's rant. "I personally don't want to have to deal with your shenanigans this year, and if you lot turn these nice girls into hooligans, I will throw you into detention for every night, the rest of the year!" Apparently someone _had_ been listening.

"Well that's only because we pissed her off. Doesn't she _look_ like a nice lady?" Even I had to disagree with her on this level, for what with the Professors thin lips and tight smiles, she did not look kind at all. "What does she teach anyway?" Riley asked thoughtfully.

"Transfiguration." Peter put in. He and Alyssa had both been looking over their schedules up until this point, and hadn't really been part of the conversation. Nobody had really thought that Alyssa and Peter would stay together long, especially not with how he muddled everything up after she confessed she liked him last year. But the two of them had been together so long now that it was just odd to _not_ see them together anymore.

"Really?" Riley gasped as Melody started laughing. "I love transfiguration!" She exclaimed, catching James' attention.

"Me too. It's my best subject." He nodded proudly, obviously thinking about how he had managed to become a full animagus in our fourth year. I smiled fondly at the memory, as I noticed the rest of the Marauders doing the same. I barely noticed when Riley started speaking again, and quickly drew myself out of my reverie and tuned in.

"Mine too!" She exclaimed before calming down a slight bit as I, along with everyone else at the table I'm sure, sighed at how similar the two hooligans were. "I'm hoping to work in St. Mungos Transfiguration Maladies Ward one day. Of course this means that I need to work my way up from Healer first, and somehow land the internship, but I think I can do it."

"Wow," I commented in shock. "That is the hardest ward to get into. My uncle tried for three years to get the internship before he even got the chance." It was true. It was a well known fact that St. Mungos had the best Transfiguration Maladies Ward in the world, and only a few choice witches and wizards got a chance to take the internship.

"Which is why Riley needs a leg up." Melody grinned wickedly. "Tell them what you're doing Twitchy."

"Okay," She smiled evenly. "As long as it doesn't leave this table." We all nodded and leaned in to hear what the girl had to say. And I gotta tell you, it couldn't have come as more of a shock if she told us she was going to adopt a baby troll.

"I've been working since this summer, and I'm trying to become an Animagus." She sat back proudly as my jaw dropped in abject shock. I saw James' eyes bugging out of his face, and Sirius' jaw was hanging further open then mine. "Of course I don't _exactly_ have the ministries permission yet, but if I register when I'm out of school, then I should get the internship no problem."

"Wow Riley." Amber took the news much better then we had. "That's amazing!"

"Yeah really." Alyssa threw in as I started to collect myself. The announcement had left me gob smacked. She wanted to become an Animagus. How could this be possible? Talk about odd circumstances, as she chose to announce this to the only three unregistered Animagi in Hogwarts. Well, that I knew of. Merlin, I hope they're the only unregistered Animagi.

"Professor McGonagall is an Animagus." Lily put in as James tried to stifle a laugh.

"Really? Wow. Told you she was great!" Riley put in, turning towards James. "What's wrong with you?" She turned to look at Sirius then, who was also trying desperately to smother his laughter. "Is this funny?"

I couldn't help it. As soon as I saw Pete's eyes watering, I let out a small snort of concealed laughter. This set all of us off. Sirius was laughing uproariously as James' head was down on the table and he was snorting into his arm. Peter had holding his side and I was ready to fall off my chair with mirth. Even though I couldn't stop laughing, I did feel pretty bad about this. The girl had no idea that my friends were Animagi, and here I was laughing at her for trying to succeed were many other witches and wizards had failed.

"Could you be more rude?" Melody stood up, slamming her books down on the table.

"Well _I_ think it's great Riley." Alyssa nodded, shoving Peters arm off of her shoulders.

"Let's go ladies. No reason to stay around these imbeciles any longer." This came from Lily.

Riley was just looking around at us laughing at her. She definitely looked hurt by our laughter. "Whatever." she sighed before standing up and following the girls dejectedly as they stalked out of the Great Hall.

"Bloody hell." I sighed, after I finally managed to control myself.

"Wow...we definitely have a knack for pissing them off." Sirius nodded regrettably

"Yeah really." Sighed James still chuckling. "And now we gotta find a decent excuse as to why we laughed at her."

"That's crazy though. And pretty ambitious of her. I mean, yeah, we did it, but we had each other. She's gonna have to do this by herself." Peter mused. Now that I thought about it, it was pretty ambitious of the girl. As we all stood up and made our way towards the dungeons for double potions, we mused over a good excuse that might actually be believable.

We decided that telling the girls that Peter's uncle had tried to turn Animagus over the summer and had ended up losing an ear for good, would be the best excuse. As soon as we agreed on this, the bell for first period rang. We looked, startled, at each other and raced the rest of the way towards the dungeons. Luckily, there were four seats at the back of the room left available, and Professor Slughorn wasn't there yet.

We sidled into our chairs and noticed Melody, Lily and Riley all sitting at the front of the class together, blatantly avoiding looking in our direction at all. Alyssa and Amber both had Divination and then a free period today, so all we had to do was tackle the three of them for right now.

"Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls! I must say, that the number of you who have made it to N.E.W.T level is of no surprise to me, as I know full well that the level of talent for potions in this room far exceeds the 6th grade level." Professor Slughorn had always been a boisterous and dramatic fellow. Along with James and Lily, I had been invited into his "Slug Club' in my second year at Hogwarts. This was not really something that any of us actually enjoyed, and James had turned down the offer flat.

As I mused about how the Slug Club really annoyed the pants off of me, I noticed a piece of paper, in the shape of a bird, fly across the room when the professors back was turned. It had come from the girls direction and was heading towards the back left corner of the room. Towards the Slytherins.

"What is this?" Professor Slughorn had stopped the bird mid-flight, with his back turned, and walked over to it. Unfolding the paper, he read off of it - "Do you want to be my partner this year? - Riley" That was a shocker.

"Which one of you is this Riley girl?" Oh, man. So much for wanting to avoid detentions.

"I am." She stood up and looked at him, grinning slightly. "You see professor, I've heard that Slytherins and Gryffindors don't exactly get along here. So I figured, what better way to change that, then by being the one to extend the hand of friendship to a fellow student with whom I had gotten along with quite well until the sorting ceremony."

I blanched. She got along with a Slytherin? This was not good. I turned and saw both James and Sirius' jaws dropped in shock and even anger.

"Who might that student be, miss ...?" He was actually considering this!

"Collins." She supplied. "And it was Severus. I was just wanting to perhaps, be his potions partner for a bit." She smiled as my eyes nearly bulged out of my head. As I looked around the room, nearly everyones jaw had dropped.

"Hmm..." Professor Slughorn mussed with a small smile. "Yes. Yes, I believe that would be suitable. You and Mister Snape shall be partners for the rest of the year."

"WHAT?" James and Sirius yelled at the same time as a small smile appeared on both Riley and Snape's faces.

"Quiet! I will have order!" It took several minutes to calm the swearing and yelling Slytherins and Gryffindors. I sat in shocked silence through most of the uproar as Professor Slughorn handed out detention after detention. Even Lily received a detention for yelling at Lucius Malfoy, who had just called Riley a blood traitor.

"This is precisely why Miss Collins idea was so brilliant. You all need to learn to get along! Now, we will be working on Felix Felicis today. Can anyone tell me about this potion?" Professor Slughorn droned on as we all partnered up. Almost everyone in the room was sending glares at the mismatched pair at the front of the room as we started working on our potions, but they seemed oblivious to it all.

I was working with Peter who had just tried to cut up the shriveled fig before skinning it. Apparently, Riley had made the same blunder at the front of the room, for snippets of their conversation could be over heard by the rest of the almost silent class.

"What are you doing?" hissed Snape, grabbing her wrist as she tried to dice the fig.

"Cutting the mandrake root." She stated as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"No, that's the shriveled fig. You have to skin it first."

"Oh...so...what did I skin then?"

"No! Riley! You skinned the Mandrake root!" I laughed slightly at this.

"Wasn't that one the fig?" She asked apprehensively.

"Does it _look_ like a fig" he rolled his eyes with a grin. That was odd. I rarely saw him smile at all.

"Um...sort of." She said with an innocent smile.

"No. _This_" he shook the fig in front of her face, "looks like a fig. _That_ looks like a root! Thank Merlin I have another."

"Well _I_ thought it looked kind of figgy." She muttered with a small grin as she started to skin the shriveled fig he had thrust into her hand.

"_You_ look kind of figgy." He muttered childishly as I heard Sirius growl a few paces to my left.

"Bloody Slytherin probably bewitched her." he muttered as his knife hand slipped and he cut open his finger. "Dammit!!"

"Probably more likely that she's just pissed at us. Again." James muttered as I healed the cut on Sirius' finger with the spell Riley had used the other day.

"Well, what can we do about it?" Peter, always the level headed one muttered darkly. "Either way, lets try and talk to her about it." he suggested.

The rest of the period went on this way, with the only two people actually talking being Snape and Riley, and Sirius, James, and myself all muttering about how she could possibly do something like that. I'll admit it, I hate the Slytherins, and what Riley had done had been pretty thoughtless.

Apparently Riley's mother was a chef of some restaurant and Melody had taken up cooking with her as a small child. She excelled in this, and that was where her ability at potions came from. It was also quite clear that Riley had not inherited her mothers cooking talents, for Snape had corrected her time and time again.

By the end of the period, the only people who actually got the potion correct were Riley and Snape, Barty Crouch - a sixth year Ravenclaw and his partner Rudlofus Lestrange, and Melody and Lily. Meanwhile, my potion was a dull golden brown, and Sirius and James' was a dark yellow. We had almost made it. The bell rang and we headed to lunch, running to catch up with the girls.

"Riley! Hey Riley!" James was yelling at her back as she blatantly ignored us.

"Look," Peter sighed as he grabbed her arms and stopped her from walking. "We're sorry. We shouldn't have laughed, but you gotta understand! This summer, Remus was staying at my place, and James and Sirius came to visit. My uncle is an Animagus and he came bursting into my room, drunk as all hell, yelling that he could turn into a rabbit. He then stole my wand and pointed it at himself."

By now, everyone was listening and I had to commend Peter for his adaptations to the story. He had always been good at worming his way out of trouble.

"Any way, there was this huge puff of blue smoke and an ear less rabbit was stumbling around my room. He transformed wrong, and to this day, he has no ears as either a rabbit or human." Riley was grinning by this point. "We weren't laughing at you." Peter smiled. "We were laughing at the memory of a drunk ear less rabbit bouncing down the stairs of my house."

"Okay." Riley laughed. "I knew there had to be a good reason." She laughed and started heading towards the great hall again.

"We do think it's a wonderful attempt." Sirius grinned apologetically as Riley smiled.

"I know you guys aren't dumb enough to piss Riley off twice in 48 hours. Well, not on purpose at least." Melody smiled widely as Lily chortled.

After lunch we walked into Transfiguration, where Peter, Lily, Riley and I took the last four spots together - which forced Sirius and James apart. Padfoot and Prongs looked heartbroken and started going into dramatic hysterics at the thought of being separated from each other.

"My darling James! I shall be longing for you every moment we're apart. But never fear! Our love is undeniable, and distance cannot wear down my devotion!" Sirius cried, going down on one knee and playing the part of the love-sick Romeo.

"Oh, Sirius!"James wailed as he threw the back of his had to his forehead. "I simply can not leave you! My heart will ache for your love every moment that we are forced apart!" The girls started giggling as James swooned and batted his eyelashes at Sirius, clearly taking on the role of Juliet.

I rolled my eyes and laughed at the antics of my two best friends. Just then, Professor McGonagall walked into the classroom, right as Sirius was declaring his undying love for James, and raised an eyebrow at them.

"Mr. Potter, Mr. Black. Stop these shenanigans at once. If you are so concerned about being separated, may I recommend that you take the two seats behind Miss Collins and Miss Evans?" McGonagall pursed her lips as Sirius and James started singing in joy and sat down right behind Lily and Riley

"Now then. I hope all of our emotional issues are taken care of?" McGonagall surveyed the class with her sharp eye, as we all turned to face her.

As it turns out, Riley _was_ just as good at Transfiguration as she had claimed, and received ten points for Gryffindor when she was the first to turn her desk into a cauldron. Professor McGonagall even smiled softly at the use of Riley's new nickname and did not bother to correct her.

By the end of class, the only people that had managed to do so were Riley, James, and Amos Diggory – a sixth year Hufflepuff. Lily had created a very tall cauldron, and Sirius had somehow managed to keep his cauldron wooden, while I had fully created a functioning cauldron, that somehow split down the middle like a piece of wood.

"Now class." McGonagall address the students just before the bell rang. "This year, on top of your regular classes, you are all to hand in a comprehensive report at the end of each semester about the various changes a magical beings body can under take. Each report can be of one of the following topics – Werewolves, (I groaned) Animagus, (We all groaned) Vampires, or the effects of a Basilisk's stare."

"Everyone will be working in pairs with the person I assign you. Before you ask, yes, everyone will be paired with someone in their own house, to the best of my ability, so as to ensure more study time." I grinned, hoping that I would be working with one of the Marauders. Hopefully then we could ace the project in no time flat.

"I will be handing out a paper with the details of the report, and your partners name on top." As the bell rang, she started passing out papers to students as they left the room. I looked up as James started yelling and bouncing up and down with glee. Riley snatched away his paper and smiled before smacking Prongs upside the back of the head.

"Calm down you oaf!" She giggled as he rubbed the back of his head. With a reaction like that, coupled with Lily staring at her paper as though it told her that the end of the world was her fault, I knew that they _must_ be partnered. Sirius was rolling his eyes as Peter stared up at him with an unabashed grin and asked when they would start studying.

This left me with Riley. This could work out in my favour, as long as I could sway her from doing the werewolf topic, other wise _some things _might get too noticeable.

"Not bad!" Riley stated as we headed to the Gryffindor Common room as everyone else headed to History of Magic. It turned out we were the only two to have this spare period at the same time. "So what topic do you want? I mean, you know I want to cover Animagi, so you can chose the other topic."

"Um...How about the Basilisk topic then?" I sighed as we entered the common room and flopped down on the sofa. She had sure made _that_ easy.

Okay. Review my lovely readers! Things are gonna start to pick up now, so enjoy.


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